About LAFA
LAFA is the product design studio & material research lab of LaFabrica Craft Pvt Ltd.
As founders of a biodegradable packaging design & distribution startup, we are constantly reminded of the importance of quality made goods.
The LAFA design studio provides a window into our team’s individual explorations of material & design wherein we create everyday objects & art. From hand bound books, biodegradable masks and reinforced paper bags to playful paper planes & much more.
Get to know the LAFA team, their materials of choice & portfolios of work below...
Sachin is an Architect & Designer by education, a Functional Fold Explorer by profession and an Eco-Design Enthusiast by nature. As Founder of LaFabrica Craft Pvt Ltd, Sach has spent the past 3 years experimenting with paper, bio-polymers and other biodegradable materials in hopes of identifying solutions to everyday plastic packaging waste.
Previously working with Coppernicus E-Bikes as a designer in Mangalore, Sach later moved to Goa for a position as a furniture designer. However, faced with the consistent void of intervention within the packaging space regardless of industry, the decision to tackle the issue head on became his focus moving forward.
Between custom packaging design consultations and the day to day operations of leading a startup, Sach is also an avid artist who’s personal practice of sketching has become a means of self analysis and external processing. Using a simple black ink pen and A6 notepad, he has compiled well over 300 sketches, elements of which you will often find dotted across an array of our LAFA products.
Sachin Gangadharan
LAFA's paper & packaging architect
Blurring the lines between fashion, fine arts and function, it is the ability to create, construct and ultimately convey a visual language all our own that renders textiles one of the greatest tools in the exploration of our every day.
Schooled in the art of design and the business of fashion, followed by over a decade of research and exploration into textiles & consumer culture, Sonja has long been fascinated by the materiality & meaning of the objects around her.
Drawn to the intimacy & functionality of tailor made clothing and choosing to work predominantly with that which would otherwise go to waste, Sonja now focuses her energies on creating one-of-a-kind pieces. Items that boycott the everyday pressures, social/environmental impacts of mass production and carry the layers of consciousness and quality she seeks in her belongings.
Pairing a passion for cloth, a curiosity for materials and the one practice she has consistently kept - journaling - the decision to create LAFA Books seemed an all too natural fit.
Sonja Coates
LAFA's collector of cloth & conversations
Charan is a Product Designer with a background in Civil Engineering and brings with him a great deal of expertise in alternative material exploration and prototyping.
Whether designing natural wall tiles and car dashboards from Bio-Composites or developing innovative tree free recipes for paper making, Charan’s work explores the relationship between a material's inherent functionality and the roles & emotions we attach to them.
Developing products with an emphasis on material innovation, Charan walks a fine line between traditional arts & crafts and modern design intervention to create items that not only address the issues of a product's environmental sustainability but of it's long term cultivation, production and employment generation potential as well.
Charan Thota
LAFA's alternative raw material explorer
